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Saturday, March 19, 2011

To heck with spring cleaning! I'm going to do some spring redecorating. About two years ago, UHM and I painted the kitchen with Sherwin-Williams 'Sassy Green' which, depending on your monitor, is either a really cool color or looks like a sick avocado. I can assure you, on the wall it is really cool. At the time I wanted to do some kind of window treatment but just never got around to it - and UHM is all about light so she tends to avoid a lot of window treatments.

Lately, the harsh look of that window has been bothering me. Today, I convinced UHM that a valance would look great on that window - that it would 'soften' the look a little without impeding her view or our ability to use the window as a point of egress. Here's where there is Cardigan content - the window is large enough and low enough (and it slides) that we use it as a means of entering and exiting the house when we don't want dogs to crowd the doors trying to get in or out. Sad, I know.

Anyway, we were out and about today and, since I was driving, I drove us to a fabric store! The store is actually a quilting fabric store but since they have so many gorgeous fabrics I knew we would find the right one - and we did! It's Michael Miller's 'Anjou Pour Vous' and is part of his French Journal collection. We got a contrasting fabric to do a border as well - a bright tangerine - that will really pop against the Sassy Green.

I'm not a particularly skilled seamstress but I feel pretty confident that I can sew straight seams and hems then use curtain clips to hang this. Maybe I will even be able to get it done before next weekend! Pictures when it's completed!

Tomorrow we are going to Richmond to visit with Nick of Nick the Cardi - International Man of Mystery. Bogey wants to see his great nephew again (he met him briefly in Chattanooga). There should be some good photo and video ops.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

If today is any indicator, Spring is just around the corner. Guess I need to start thinking about a new photo for the header on the blog. I spent some time today taking pics of all the dogs. The Baby Dogs I shot from inside the house. The Big Dogs I shot while I was outside with them. Sam is incredibly difficult to take pictures of. He never stops moving and he always wants to be near me. Ginny is a terrific model although she only seems to have one pose; I have dozens of pictures of her in this same pose from the last 8 years. Moira is tough to shoot too. She's also a perpetual motion machine and her tongue never seems to be in her mouth. Here are what I think are the best shots of the day. Little or no editing here....

Saturday, March 5, 2011

This weekend is the first agility trial of the year. It's an AKC trial hosted by the local kennel club and happens to be the trial where Moira got her first Q last year.

We didn't pick up any Qs today - someone gets entirely too amped up - but we did have some really nice moments in both our runs. I was especially pleased with JWW as the course was wicked for novice dogs - no less than 4 rear crosses! She read and executed every rear cross perfectly! I love having a dog that can do rear crosses.

Here's video of our Standard run. Check out the air Girlfriend gets going over the A Frame - and the "Whooo" you hear from the crowd. She was FLYING.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

A week ago I posted that Sammy was having "man troubles." Today we took steps to, hopefully, cure those troubles or at the very least make them moot.

The trouble Sammy was having was caused by something called a Sertoli Cell Tumor (at least that's what we think)in his right testicle. All boys have Sertoli cells in their testicles. These cells produce lots of things but the one that was causing the problem was estrogen. See, when there's a tumor, estrogen production goes into overdrive and that's not good for a boy. It causes a myriad of problems but the important ones for Sam were a drop in sperm production and what sperm were being produced were malformed. It's hard to be a stud dog, even an old one, when you aren't producing enough viable sperm.

How do I know all this? Well, because of the $200 vet visit two weeks ago to initially diagnose the tumor. A week after that was the $90 second opinion consultation and sonogram with Dr. Dove. Dr. Dove's recommendation was to remove the affected testicle - a unilateral castration. He indicated there's about a 30% chance that doing that will allow the other testicle to recover from its estrogen overdose and resume sperm production.

Then there was the $185 pre-surgery blood workup. For those of you keeping track, we're up to $475 now.

Today was the surgery and I picked Sam up this afternoon. To be fair, not everything on the bill pertained to the testicle - there was $75 for flushing his tear ducts and removing a wart/growth from his neck. They also did his toenails while he was under, for which I am deeply thankful. Total today? $505.43! Gasp, choke, look at tech incredulously! What happened to the $298 estimate from last week? Well, it seems that having the testicle biopsied is over $200!

Now, to be fair, the vet's office didn't charge me for a "full neuter" and the tech pointed out several times that he can still be called a male - which made me chuckle as I was less concerned about that than if they removed the correct testicle. They also didn't charge for the nail trim - how generous.

Yes, I know that all those figures don't quite total $1000 - factor in gas for driving to all the offices and your there.

Sam is doing ok tonight. He's clearly sore and tired though. I've given him half a Previcox and a full Tramadol so he can just chill. He's asked to be called "The Uniballer" from now on and wants to write a manifesto.

Dog Quote of the Week

"All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers is contained in the dog."

- Franz Kafka

About Me, UHM and The Horde

Me: I'm a 40-something dog mom. I never intended to live with five dogs and a cat, it just happened. Funny thing is, I can't imagine living any other way.

UHM (Understanding House Mate): She didn't even have a dog when she was a child. FIVE dogs and a cat!?!? Now you know why she's understanding. She loves the dogs as much as I do. The cat, not so much.

The Heathen Horde: Sam, Ginny & Moira are the original Horde members. In the last two years Bogey & Georgia have been granted full membership status. Everyone is red & white - that way the neighbors aren't sure how many dogs we have :)